The Diagnostic Imaging MRI modality focus page provides information, videos, podcasts, and the latest news about industry product developments, trial results, screening guidelines, and protocol guidance that touch on the use of MRI across the healthcare continuum, including breast, neurological, cardiovascular, prostate imaging, and more.
October 14th 2025
While dynamic contrast enhanced breast MRI may help reduce biopsies for suspicious calcifications on mammograms, quantitative MRI features and diffusion-weighted imaging (DWI) may not provide additional diagnostic benefit in these cases, according to a new study.
One-Fifth of Orthopedic Imaging is Defensive Medicine, says Study
February 17th 2011Nineteen percent of imaging studies ordered by Pennsylvania orthopedic surgeons were done solely for defensive medicine, and they accounted for 35 percent of the imaging costs, according to a study presented this week at the 2011 annual meeting of the American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons (AAOS).
Philips Gets CE Mark for PET/MR System
January 28th 2011With Siemens close on its heels, Philips became the first company to get the green light to market its hybrid whole body PET/MR imaging system. Royal Philips Electronics announced this week that it received a CE marking, allowing the company to begin selling in Europe.
MRI During Chemotherapy IDs Subtypes of Breast Cancer
January 13th 2011Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) can be used to monitor response during neoadjuvant chemotherapy (NAC), and it is effective in triple-negative or human epidermal growth factor receptor 2 (HER2)-positive breast cancer, according to a study published online Jan. 10 in the Journal of Clinical Oncology.
PET/MR steps up as first new hybrid modality in a decade
December 14th 2010PET/MR is the logical next step in hybridization, the step that follows PET/CT, one that vendors finally took at this year's RSNA meeting. It has come a decade after PET/CT was first commercialized and nearly as long since pundits concluded that its arrival was inevitable.
MRI scans show structural brain changes in people at risk for Alzheimer’s disease
December 3rd 2010People at risk of developing Alzheimer’s disease exhibit a specific structural change in the brain that can be visualized by MRI, a study by neuroscientists at Chicago’s Rush University Medical Center finds. The results may help identify those who would most benefit from early intervention.
Use of CT, MR for injury-related ED visits jumped in past decade
October 6th 2010From 1998 to 2007, the use of CT or MRI scans in emergency departments for injury-related conditions increased about three-fold without a similar increase in the prevalence of the diagnosis of certain life-threatening trauma-related conditions, according to a study in the October 6 issue of The Journal of the American Medical Association.
MRI safety: Patients with insulin pumps require special cautions
October 5th 2010An insulin pump allows the replacement of slow-acting insulin for basal needs with a continuous infusion of rapid-acting insulin. By using an insulin pump, a patient can typically match the dosage of insulin to lifestyle and activities, rather than adjusting those to the body’s response to insulin injections. The advantages of using an insulin pump include the fact that an insulin pump replaces the need for periodic injections by delivering rapid-acting insulin continuously throughout the day via a catheter. It greatly simplifies the management of diabetes.
Fruits explode, vegetables flit as MRI dynamizes still life
July 29th 2010What set MRI on the path to where it is today was this modality’s ability to reveal, in strikingly realistic fashion, the mushy insides of our bodies. Whereas x-rays and CT scans showed our bony interior in stark relief, MRI excelled at showing our softer selves. That may be why it seemed so natural and fitting when fruits were used to see whether MRI scanners were working correctly. But I had never seen such scans as art, not until Andy Ellison got hold of them.
Little Wonder: Nano imaging agent reveals then kills cancer cells
July 23rd 2010The very small may one day inherit the imaging world. Pioneers in nanoparticles are working toward that end, crafting imaging agents to hasten the future of MRI. But lately imaging alone just hasn’t been enough to excite me. Nor has it been enough that these nano agents are about 1/10,000th the diameter of the diminishing hairs on my head.
Of skin-colored gowns and brain MRI
May 5th 2010Every so often you come across an idea that has so much merit you can’t imagine why somebody hadn’t come up with it before. Such is the case with hospital gowns matched to a patient’s skin color. Although sky blue and forest green might be stunning on the right patient, it is hard to imagine either one helping docs spot signs of diseases that can be found in skin color changes.
MR exhibitors focus on elastography, innovative design
March 8th 2010Physicians have used palpation regularly as a diagnostic technique since the days of the ancient Greeks. Up to now, the potential value of this method has been explored in the imaging field only by ultrasound research teams, but at this year’s ECR technical exhibition, delegates can see for themselves how the same principles may be combined with MRI to improve diagnosis in patients with liver disease.